Hmmm, there's been some good posts today. I'll pick out one that some of you may be interested in. Rosie refers to a report by KSL that there is a new charter school in Salt Lake that gives students complete freedom and agency to choose their educational experience. They decide what subjects to study, and how to study them.
Rosie was unsure of what to think about this and said:
"I have mixed feelings. I think that it is good to give students the opprotunity to send time on things that they enjoy and to allow them to learn the things that interest them. However, its kind of scary too. No structure at all could lead to a lack of learning."
I also have mixed feelings, however I think there should be more freedom than there is now in public education. Rosie critiques this new charter school by saying that "These student may end up not learning anything because they don't feel like it." But to be honest, these students won't learn much in traditional schools either if they don't feel like it. I guess that's one plus for more student agency and choice: people tend to learn when they are motivated, and they are motivated when they are learning things that are important to them. So why not give students some more freedom? Let them have a little more leeway to choose what they want to learn, and they might be more self-motivated and be better students.
Now, after saying that, I do agree with Rosie that some structure is good, and we do have to encourage students to get a well-rounded education, or else they'll learn a lot of one thing and not much of anything else. But perhaps a little more choice and agency than is currently allowed in schools would be a good thing?
Now to tie this to technology. I believe technology can give students that freedom to explore, experiment, participate, and choose topics of study. What do you think? How could technology give students some of that freedom?
